After celebrating the 66th anniversary of its opening earlier this month, Old South Restaurant has been closed for nonpayment of sales tax.

Tom Atchley, excise tax administrator with the state Department of Finance and Administration, said Old South Inc. was notified of sales tax nonpayment on March 11 and a tax lien against the restaurant has been filed at the Pope County Courthouse. Atchley said the closure process begins when a business owes three months of sales tax receipts within a 24-month period.

"They can reopen if they can get their tax situation behind them," Atchley said. "We issue a lot of orders around the state, but the vast majority we work out."

Atchey said in an after-hours call that he did not know the exact amount of the restaurant's tax liability to the state.

From the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program history of the restaurant:

"When it was constructed, the Old South Restaurant was located on the outskirts of Russellville on an undeveloped stretch of Arkansas Highway #64 (sic), at that time the main travel route from Tennessee to Oklahoma. By virtue of its location and the fact that it was open twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, the Old South quickly became a popular dining spot for travelers including such famous entertainers as Ernest Tubb, B. B. King, and the King himself, Elvis Presley. Even after the construction of Interstate 40 in the 1960s which by-passed the Old South Restaurant, it remained a popular spot for travelers and locals."